At 62, Ferguson has given no indication he is about to call time on his illustrious career and even the pacemaker he had fitted last winter has not managed to slow him down.

However, Gill is aware that the man who has captured eight Premiership titles and a European Cup during his time at Old Trafford cannot go on forever and knows the club must have some idea of a possible replacement.

Ferguson believed current England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson had been lined up to take over from him when he was initially supposed to retire two summers ago, while Ottmar Hitzfeld, Fabio Capello, Steve McClaren, Martin O’Neill and Marcello Lippi have all be linked with the job at some stage over the past couple of years.

Gill maintains United are carrying out no more than a watching brief just now but clearly wants the club to know exactly who they want when Ferguson does eventually stand down.

“We keep our eye on the managers coming through but it is a difficult process because whoever the hot star is today is maybe a cold star tomorrow,” Gill told www.manutd.com.

“It is not like a normal business where you can groom a number two internally because it is not always feasible and, quite rightly, there are rules about targeting managers who are doing jobs with other clubs.

“As and when Sir Alex decides to retire, I am sure there will be no shortage of applicants. We just monitor it and make sure we are aware of developments in European football management.”

Meanwhile, Gill has warned the Red Devils they must maintain their title drive right to the end of the new campaign.

For the first time since the Premiership era began 11 years ago, United’s championship aspirations were realistically over with two months of the season remaining following a horror run that saw them win just twice in eight games from the middle of January and also dumped out of the Champions League.

Although Ferguson’s men managed to salvage some pride by clinching the FA Cup at Millwall’s expense in May, the trophy rates as a poor third to the major prizes and even if United fail to wrest the title back from Arsenal this term, Gill expects them to put up far more of a fight.

“You might not win the league every season but when we have lost it before, it has been towards the end of the season,” he said.

“We need to be up there challenging into March, April and May. Then if you don’t win it, at least you have made a great race of it.

“We have got to get back to that. Winning the FA Cup was a great end to the season but what happened in the league was disappointing.

“We need to come out all guns blazing next season, so we get up there in the league and we reach the latter stages of the European Cup.”